Are companies taking too narrow a view when identifying potential high performing expatriates? One organisation explains how to assess and select expatriates using an approach that more closely reflects the reality of expatriate experience.

Careful pre-selection reduces the risk

Much of the academic research seeking to identify predictors of expatriate success has focused on personality characteristics, particularly those known as the 'Big Five' (conscientiousness, emotional stability, extroversion, agreeableness and openness to experience).  While research indicates a link between some personality characteristics and expatriate success, the search for one 'ideal type' personality profile ignores a variety of important contextual and situational dimensions that influence expatriate job performance. These include, for example:

• The 'cultural distance' between home and host country; compare for instance moving from the UK to Holland with moving from Belgium to Vietnam.
   
• The specific role being undertaken; for example, the cultural (and job) demands on a senior executive responsible not only for operational management but also for building relationships with local customers and suppliers are very different from an individual who is expatriated to provide internal technical expertise.
   
• The personal circumstances and lifestyle of the expatriate.

The expatriate family

One critical contextual factor is the expatriate's family.  Research has clearly identified the ability of the expatriate's family to adapt to a new geographical and cultural environment as a major factor influencing their work performance.  Recent studies demonstrate that a variety of factors negatively influence family adaptation. 

These factors include unrealistic expectations of the environment, culture and lifestyle, cultural insensitivity, being away from the normal support network, poor work-family balance, absent career opportunities for trailing spouses and more limited facilities for expatriate children's education and leisure. 

Given that the family influences expatriate job performance then surely organisations should take account of this in their assessment and selection processes.  But how can they do this?

Including the family in assessment and selection

As a starting point we should acknowledge that not all assessment methods work for all family members so it is not just a matter of putting family members through the same process as the expatriate.  It doesn't take a developmental psychologist to realise that the answer to the question 'would you like to live abroad' asked of an 8-year old is not going to provide a great deal of insight.  As Ben Voegele, author of an adolescent's guide to living overseas, comments in a recent article:

"Each member of the family has their own unique fears and concerns.  While adults adjust at a faster pace, children and adolescents have to cope not only with the move, but with all the emotional changes that go along with being young."

One of the assessment tools developed by PSi is the International Self-Assessment Exercise (ISAE).  Seven different types of family member have been identified, ranging from the unaccompanied employee to the young child, and different ISAEs developed accordingly.  The structure and principles for all ISAEs are the same but each one has been tailored to address issues specific to the family member.  For example, the ISAE for the trailing spouse contains important questions on current career, potential work aspirations and lifestyle, while older children are asked about a host of subjects including their daily routines, likes and dislikes, music, clothes and friends as well as their expectations of a life away from home.

An important dimension of the ISAEs and the self-assessment process is the 'Family Conference' that appears at the end of each of the six sections of the exercise.  This provides all family members with the opportunity to talk through, listen to and discuss each other's views. 

The process of self-assessment is both simple and cost effective.  The self-knowledge acquired through the ISAEs raises awareness of the existing lifestyle and helps develop a realistic view of the expatriation experience, helping the employee and their family prepare effectively, anticipate areas of potential difficulty and develop strategies for dealing with them before being relocated.

The benefits

The reluctance of companies to invest in appropriate pre-assignment assessment processes that include the whole family, and take account of other important situational and contextual factors, is misplaced on two levels.  Firstly, an effective process minimises the risk of expatriate under-performance with all the cost implications this entails, while effective assessment and selection helps preserve the career of the employee, protects the family unit and ensures an adequate knowledge transfer from the employee and the international experience to the company. 

Be prepared

Secondly, research shows that expatriate recruitment is typically carried out under pressure to fill an existing vacancy; under such pressure organisations tend to appoint expatriates with the best technical skills, ignoring the host of additional factors that influence successful job performance. 

The ISAE is one of a number of tools developed by PSi that can be employed at any time to create a talent pool of pre-screened candidates from which the company can recruit when an international assignment becomes available.  This allows for a more relaxed and effective assessment and selection process and provides time for preparation and development needs to be identified and addressed prior to the assignment.

September 2005

Subject: Expatriate selection, Tools for expat selection